Bus range to kick off Conti’s ‘third generation’ commercial line-up

The third generation of commercial vehicle tyres Continental is displaying at this week’s IAA Commercial Vehicles show has been described by the German manufacturer as the “most comprehensive product offensive for truck and bus tyres in the over 140-year history of the Hanover-based tyre manufacturer.” Continental says that from mid-2013 it will successively switch over all of its steering axle, drive axle, trailer and bus tyres across the world to new third generation products.

Priority for the team developing this latest generation was further reducing fleet costs for customers, Continental shares. Tyre developers used the current generation of commercial vehicle tyres as a starting point for their work; Continental says the third generation tyres take “the outstanding properties of the previous tyres, for example, high mileage, low rolling resistance, maximum safety and a high-quality casing with optimum retreadability,” but the new tyres continue “on a higher level with regard to maximum customer use.”

“The new tyre generation sees us provide customers in the transport and logistics industry with advanced tyres that will allow them to operate even more efficiently in face of increasingly tougher competition,” stated Herbert Mensching, head of Marketing and Sales Truck Tires for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

The new generation of tyres will begin with a bus tyre range, which will be available from the second quarter of 2013. Continental says the new passenger transport tyres can be used on all axles (Conti Coach, Conti CityPlus and Conti Urban) have been developed for a high level of safety and economy. Conti reports: “The new tread structures with deep sipes enable considerably greater mileages with a high level of comfort and the best grip over the entire life of the tyre, in particular on wet surfaces. Innovations in the area of materials have reduced rolling resistance significantly compared with the last generation.”